California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Chapman, 224 Cal.App.3d 253, 274 Cal.Rptr. 47 (Cal. App. 1990):
1 Since neither defendant nor the female passenger were under arrest at the time defendant's vehicle was searched, the seizure cannot be justified under New York v. Belton (1981) 453 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768, which holds "that when a policeman has made a lawful custodial arrest of the occupant of an automobile, he may, as a contemporaneous incident of that arrest, search the passenger compartment of that automobile." (453 U.S. at p. 466, 101 S.Ct. at p. 2867, 69 L.Ed.2d at p. 779.)
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